Results 3,181-3,200 of 18,727 for speaker:Michael McDowell

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Estimates for Public Services 2018: Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2 Oct 2018)

Michael McDowell: I have had to keep writing letters to my local would-be inspectors pointing this out. It is absurd that, within the law, I can start looking at my laptop or mobile phone in a holiday home and see an RTÉ programme without being required to have a licence. If this fee were placed on the local property tax, two people with an expensive holiday home in Roscommon and another in Dublin would...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: There are a number of aspects of section 15 which I dealt with on the previous occasion and I do not propose to repeat myself. Subsection (5) states: "The quorum for a meeting of the Commission shall, unless the Minister otherwise directs, be 9 members, 5 of whom shall be lay members." I am interested in hearing the Minister's response to my question. If the Minister gives a direction that...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I know that is what the Minister wants to do, but I am just wondering whether it is a requirement to do that. Is it his view of this section that one would be required to have a lay majority for a quorum or is it just a policy issue?

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: In those circumstances I will simply reiterate my objections to the requirement that the chairperson should be a lay member and that a deputy chairperson should be a lay member. It seems to me that it is not necessary that that should be the case but we dealt with it fairly exhaustively on the previous occasion.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: The Senator said his diminutive group may have voted the wrong way but it would not have made any difference.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 50:In page 15, lines 6 to 8, to delete all words from and including "of" where it secondly occurs in line 6 down to and including "determines" in line 8.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I move amendment No. 52:In page 15, lines 14 to 16, to delete all words from and including ", the" in line 14 down to and including "determines" in line 16.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: It occurs to me that this would be a necessary provision and that the amendments the Minister is making are acceptable as tidying up amendments. No matter what view one takes of the commission, these provisions would have to be in place. It is hard to see how they could be opposed on their merits, even if one has strong reservations about the fact that some of the officeholders are deemed...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I have no objection to amendment No. 57.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I note that section 18(2) states: "Where a member of the Commission referred to in subsection (1) dies, resigns, is removed from office or otherwise ceases to hold office the casual vacancy so occasioned shall be filled in like manner as the manner in which the member who occasioned the vacancy was appointed, and the person appointed under this subsection shall hold office for that period of...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: On the last point raised by Senator Ivana Bacik, it could be argued that section 15(7) deals with the commission continuing to function, notwithstanding the fact that there is a vacancy in its membership, but it appears that section 18(2) is mandatory. I do not know what kind of person would go through the business of applying to the Public Appointments Commission, being vetted and then...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I remember very well that in this House filling vacancies for very small periods is invaluable for certain purposes, but I do not think it would make much sense to do so in this case to make it mandatory.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I am not very conversant with the procedures of the Law Society but I agree with Senator Bacik that the reference should be to the president of the Law Society. In respect of section 19(1)(f), is being struck off by the High Court the only way a person can cease to be a practising solicitor? Can a person not write to the secretary general of the Law Society or someone and ask to have their...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I am sorry to interrupt but the point I was making is a bad one. This is covered under section 11(5)(a) already. If one ceases to be a practising lawyer, then one is out.

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I was looking back on section 11(5)(a) and (b) and thinking that if one ceases to be a practising barrister or solicitor, one ceases to be a member of the commission automatically. In that context, paragraphs (f) and (g) may be surplus to requirements. How one does it - whether one is struck off by the High Court or whatever - is actually captured by section 11(5)(b). One ceases to be a...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: Section 21 says that the director of the commission is to be accountable to the Committee of Public Accounts. I want some indication from the Minister as to whether this is purely in relation to the existing Comptroller and Auditor General report procedure or whether it goes wider than that. Should the responsibility of the Accounting Officer and the Committee of Public Accounts deal with...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: This section must be viewed in the context of the previous section. It will be noted that we have just voted to insert into the Bill, although personaly I was opposed to it, a provision to enable the director of the commission to testify before the Committee of Public Accounts on the economy and efficiency of the commission in the use of its resources, as well as on the system procedures and...

Seanad: Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017: Committee Stage (Resumed) (26 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: Yes, but what policy are we talking about? If the chairman appears before a committee to discuss the general administration of the commission, how could he or she be involved in a debate on Government policy before the committee? How could that arise unless it was a resources issue and the Government was determined only to give the commission half of what the commission believes necessary...

Seanad: Project 2040 and Transport Matters: Statements (20 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: I welcome the Minister here today. This is a timely debate. I congratulate the Minister also on his script because with the exception of the development at the National Sports Campus there is not a single time or date commitment mentioned anywhere. This worries me as a general proposition because it is easy to talk about things it is intended to do between now and 2040, but when will these...

Seanad: Project 2040 and Transport Matters: Statements (20 Sep 2018)

Michael McDowell: Who objected to the hotel?